The
plot in a nutshell
Mr. Incredible is one of many amazing super heroes saving lives every
day. But what happens when those he's saving don't appreciate it
anymore? Worse yet, they outlaw it? Forced to sell insurance to
support his family - his wife, the ex-Elasti-girl, super speed son Dash,
Violet, his daughter with the powers of invisibility and force fields, and
Jack Jack, the baby who seems to lack powers beyond the average - the
'normal' life is slowly killing him.

But real evil is never
completely gone, and when an old nemesis returns with a diabolical plot,
only The Incredibles can save the day.

Relatively
Spoiler Free ThoughtsPixar seems
unable to fail, but perhaps this time they'll get far more divided reviews
than ever before. You see, this isn't a kiddy film, on par with
Finding Nemo or even Monsters Inc. This is a much more adult film,
although adults unable to watch a 'cartoon' may have trouble seeing it.

When
I was graduating from High School, a group of parents tried to end a
tradition. Students had always worn different colored tassels,
depending on their GPA. They wanted this to stop - the argument was it
made the other kids feel bad, because their grades weren't as good.
Rather than celebrate individual accomplishment and hard work, they wanted
to celebrate mediocrity.

That's
a key ingredient in this film, a pretty complicated subject for a 'kiddie'
movie. There are other key ingredients as well - the crushing weight
of the adult routine life, family relationships, being thankful for what you
have, and others. The story line is well done, with much more depth
than any previous Pixar film.

However,
that might be it's undoing for some. People go to a film expecting
something, and if they get something different, they often dislike it, even
when it's well done. I'm afraid that may happen here, where people
will expect laugh a minute superhero parody, when in reality, this is a much
better film.

No
one can argue with the beauty of this movie though. Every scene is lush
and detailed, again, more so than any previous Pixar work. Were you
amazed by the blowing hair of Sulley? Than be prepared to be blown
away here. The jungles, underwater scenes, cars and planes -
everything has such an amazing realism, and yet never loses the slightly
cartoony feel. You'll quickly forget your watching a completely
fabricated world, and many of the sets and scenes should be studied by
action film makers to see how it's supposed to be done.

And
that's where this film also works extremely well - as an action film.
I expect there will be some complaints that the first 30 minutes are too
slow, and that we see too much of their 'regular' life. That's called
story telling - these scenes allow us to better understand and appreciate
the characters, especially the family, once the big action starts.

When
it starts, it really starts. Several key scenes are simply amazing,
and at one point I realized, as Dash was running from the evil henchmen,
bullets spraying the water around him, the camera zooming in and looping
back out, that this was a better James Bond movie than the last 10 years of
James Bond films put together.

We
get to see a family go from fighting each other, to fighting together.
When you first see them kick ass and take names as a single group, and
strike a fleeting fighting pose as one, you'll feel the same triumph they
do. This is an excellent movie about family, and at the same time,
each member gets to be an individual story. There's someone
everyone can relate to, and I have to admit that after seeing Elasti-girl
in action, I have a much greater appreciation of the whole stretching super
power.

The
voice acting is excellent, and you'll love all the main characters.
Some of the ancillory ones, especially Edna, are hilarious, and she stole
every scene she was in. Syndrome (voiced by Jason Lee), was another
well done voice, and fit the character extremely well.

It
will be interesting to see the eventual comparisons with the Fantastic Four
next year, since many of the same powers are included. I'll call it
early - The Incredibles eats the Fantastic Four for breakfast.

Rating - Go to see it.This is a flick for kids 8 - 14 or so predominately. However, it's
solid family theme, and it's focus on the mother and father roles, will also
appeal to parents beat down by a world they aren't all that happy
with. Younger kids will find the first half fairly slow, but will
probably love it on DVD, where they can rewatch the exciting scenes ad
nauseam.

Currently, my favorite Pixar
film is Monsters Inc, followed closely by both Toy Story's. But this
might very well become my favorite once it hits DVD and I can digest it
further. By the way, I'm thinking that Batman and Superman might want
to rethink the whole cape thing..

Spoiler Laden ThoughtsI'll talk about the plot now in more spoiler laden depth...

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There are several very well
thought out plot points in this film, and never once was my suspension of
disbelief interfered with by some goofy plot hole or stupid idea.

Let's start with why
superheroes are banned. Litigation? That's perfect! Sure,
good samaritan laws actually cover this, but it's a movie, and we all know
how much we fear lawyers as a collective whole.

Syndrome's origin?
Perfect! Rather than realize he IS special by being brilliant, he has
to try to be someone he's not, a superhero. Clearly, he didn't confab
with Edna on his suit design. I also loved the whole running joke on
super villains monologing, and how even Syndrome falls into the trap.

Ah, and what about Jack Jack,
who is clearly got some serious superpowers. At first he seemed
elemental, switching from fire to steel, but what was up with the monster
version? And yet the family doesn't yet know...

The ending was certainly
perfect for building a franchise, but alas, this film is still part of the
Disney/Pixar relationship, which means Disney has control over any future
sequels. There is a rumor out there that Steve Jobs could be taking
over at Disney though, and if that happens, who knows...maybe the mouse will
learn how to have fun once again.